


Hold On

by farfetched



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Magical Realism, Teaching magic, Yachi Hitoka-centric, missing father, same universe with added magic, yachi hitoka panics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 02:15:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17153408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/farfetched/pseuds/farfetched
Summary: Yachi Hitoka is magic. No one knows, except her mum, who is less than thrilled about it.What she does not know if that Shimizu can see. Shimizu knows, and draws her into a more magical future, one that Hitoka can only look forwards to.





	Hold On

Hitoka sticks her tongue out just slightly, not even conscious of the motion, as she tries to reason with herself. 

It’s not like it _needs_ it. She enjoys drawing people in just by her own merit – which is a little daft, because using it would be her own merit too, but it just… If her mum caught her at it, she’d be very disappointed. 

But. This is important. They need the money, they need people to be drawn in and reach into their purses. She wants to see them go to all the way, wants them to succeed, and do what she can to help. And maybe, just maybe, it needs that little extra. 

After all, a little sweep of a potion here and there wouldn’t hurt, would it? No one would notice, probably. It’s not like she’s seen anyone else using magic at all. 

Glancing at the door, she bites her lip. Equally though, it’s a little risky. Her mum could find the stuff she’s been hiding, and throw it out in disgust. Her dad’s powers, she’ll complain, nose in the air, and much use he ever was. 

To Hitoka, though, it’s always been a little forbidden, a little too tempting. She’s used it before, just a touch here and there, a blending spell with her foundation so she doesn’t stick out so much, a calming spell in her lip balm. They’ve never worked too well, but that’s because she’s never had much room to really learn, and she’d love to, but not under this roof. 

She thinks about classes sometimes, or books. Books might be safe enough. She can put a fake cover on them and stick them somewhere her mum isn’t likely to go. Her mum’s not too into books, so it would probably be safe there with the others as long as it doesn’t stick out. 

Allure spells are easy enough, though. She’s thought about using them before when she’s had crushes, so she’d looked them up. If she can just find those notes…

It takes a mere minute of rummaging in her desk drawer to find them, and she flattens them out on the table, and reaches for her paintbrush. 

Magic works best via a sentimental object, she’s heard; given by both her parents when she was only small, when she was starting to show an interest in art and graphics, and they’d been so proud of her. It’s always reminded Hitoka of when her family was complete, before her dad disappeared and her mum resented him for it. 

She says the words. She imbues the brush, and paints the spell over the poster, highlights the things she really wants people to take notice of, the arc of Hinata’s arm, the ball, the words. Not too much, but not too little. Just enough. 

When she’s done, she sits back and admires it. Almost nobody would be able to detect the magic unless they were looking for it, and almost nobody even would think it was real if she told them. 

To her, it’s a perfect fusion of talents from both her parents, entwined into something important to her. She’s proud of it, and she can’t wait to show the team her efforts.

* * *

Thankfully, they love it. No one mentions anything untoward, and Shimizu-senpai smiles at her so warmly, grateful for her effort, that Hitoka practically floats around the rest of the day. She might have to reapply the magic to the copied posters, but that’s the work of minutes, and she’ll do that when she takes them home after copying them. It’s perfect, and her day is perfect, and everything has gone perfectly. 

Until.  
“I admire the delicacy of your magic, Hitoka-chan.” 

It goes downhill. Like usual.  
Hitoka thinks she can hear her neck creak as she turns, ever so slowly, towards Shimizu-senpai, still smiling at her gently. The confusion blows in like a sandstorm – how did she know? She’s never mentioned anything before, never given any kind of hint, never even- _how?_

"W-w-w-w-what d-d-do you mean?! M-m-m-magic?!" She stammers, flapping her arms wildly. Thankfully, no one else is around; unfortunately, the only person who can see is probably the person highest on her list of _people Yachi Hitoka does not want to have a meltdown in front of_. "I-I-I don't know what you mean!?" 

Shimizu smiles gently, and Hitoka's heart can't cope with panic and a cute expression at the same time. Her face is burning.  
"It's alright, Hitoka-chan. I have magic on my mother's side mostly, and a little on my father's. I've learnt to see it." 

"What?!" She screeches, and then promptly cringes at her volume. "You- you're magical too?" She can't help but sound incredulous – the amount in the magical population is unknown, but estimated to be approximately 2%. It's somewhat an open secret: most magicians hide the fact, as it can cause them to get hounded and ostracised. Not everyone believes it’s real. Hitoka loves magic, but she's never wanted to shout about it. It's always been intensely personal, wrapped up in confusion from her dad disappearing and hurt from her mother resenting her inherited power, seeing it as his. But alongside that is wonder. She's always wanted to use it to help, even if in small ways. She likes the idea of being a small town witch, making potions and rubs for old ladies. 

Shimizu nods.  
"Which spell did you use?" 

And Hitoka tells her, dumbfounded, because she's having an intelligent conversation with Shimizu-senpai of all people about _magic_. She daren't believe it. 

Well, semi-intelligent. Hitoka doesn't actually know that much, curtailed by resentment from her mum and only using spell books. Remembering that, she trails off and sighs. Shimizu raises her eyebrows. 

"Mum doesn't like me doing magic. So I don't know much." She's finally made a connection, something only they share, and the fact that she can't really know much about it is going to ruin _everything_. 

"That's a shame. Why is that?"  
"I got it from my dad, and he disappeared when I was ten or so." She wrings her hands together. It’s only really at points like this – and when her mum’s being just the wrong side of constructively critical – that she misses him. She doesn’t remember too much, really. That might have been one of his spells, but she doesn’t mind too much, being left mostly with a rosy glow instead of concrete memories of abandonment, essentially. 

Glancing up, she sees Shimizu making a conflicted expression, unsure what to say. This, Hitoka is used to dealing with.  
“Don’t worry, I’m not upset at it. I’m more annoyed he didn’t teach me much magic, really.” She explains, fiddling with the cuff of her shirt. “And with mum, I don’t really…” It occurs to her then she probably shouldn’t be sharing so much with Shimizu – someone as cool as her, as self-assured, definitely doesn’t want to hear these petty concerns of Hitoka’s. 

“You could visit our house and learn some with us, if you’d like.” 

_Definitely_ doesn’t need to hear these petty concerns of Hitoka’s. She has bigger, grander things to concern herself with, like her exams, her flawless reputation, her own friends- 

“Huh?!” Hitoka screeches, caught off guard. Shimizu chuckles gently, holding a hand in front of her mouth to semi-hide her smile, but not enough. It shows, in the acceleration in Hitoka’s heartbeat, in the warmth in her face, in the way she grips her hands together. She can’t even think, faced with that stunning smile. Shimizu can’t be making fun of her, surely, she’s too nice for that, but the thought of her offer being genuine is just- _impossible_. 

“My younger brother loves to teach people, he’s just a little younger than you. I’d love to teach you. Even without formal teaching, you’re a delicate magician.” 

Yachi Hitoka does not croak. She’s not a lady, but she has some class. 

Although if she had done, the sight of Shimizu grinning was almost worth it.

* * *

The Shimizu household looks completely normal from the outside. There are tall plants to either side of the doorway, and it’s only when she feels something around her hand that she realises they’re not completely normal plants; she feels a little out of her depth, but crouches down and murmurs soothing words to each of them in turn. They release her, and both open up a flower, as though smiling. Hitoka compliments them on it; Shimizu, teasing, tells her she’s spoiling them. 

The house is quite normal from the inside, too. There’s a lizard tank in one room that Hitoka wants to peer into, but manages to hold herself back from. The kitchen looks normal when Shimizu gets her a drink, and offers her a space to put her bags. The living room looks normal when they sit in it to wait for her mum, Shimizu citing that they’re forbidden from doing magic without supervision yet. 

She then negates this by sliding a finger around the rim of her glass, once, then twice, murmuring an incantation quietly, and changes the juice inside from apple to orange. Shimizu smiles at her, and Hitoka feels like it’s a secret shared between them. They settle into talk about what magic Hitoka can do (not much, but Shimizu is kind nonetheless) and what magic Shimizu can do (a dizzying array, but she’s being humble about it all, of course.) Hitoka is itching to start, nervous to meet Shimizu’s mother, anxious about what will inevitably go wrong, terrified about how she’ll repay them for their efforts and when she does blow something up, no matter that she’ll be doing menial magic for sure, and petrified about that she won’t be able to do anything at all. As usual, she starts working herself up into a state, her (most likely weak to start with) anti-worrying lip balm wearing off, but she’s left it in the kitchen and getting it would require moving and that would raise questions-

“Hitoka-chan.” Shimizu’s clear voice cuts straight through her thoughts, slices through the visions that cloud her. “We’ll help you. I believe you have a good grasp on magic anyway.” 

“But I’ve never really-!” She says, waving her hands frantically. Shimizu smiles gently.  
“Yet what you’ve done is all self-taught. Mood altering potions require a certain… finesse. I haven’t mastered any of those.” Shimizu considers it for a moment. “Perhaps you could teach me how to do those?” 

Hitoka makes, to her dismay, a strangled noise. The very thought of her being able to teach _Shimizu_ anything about this most foreign art – at least to her – is laughable. 

“I don’t think I could possibly- I can’t-”  
“If nothing else, I need you to make a calming potion for Nishinoya-san and Tanaka-san for when they get overenthusiastic.” 

Hitoka giggles, unable to help herself. Tanaka and Noya could indeed use a little less energy at times, although definitely only temporarily. She’s not sure how she’d ever administer it, since they never seem to stay still long enough. Perhaps deodorant, but then gifting it to them would be incredibly awkward, and leaving it in their bag would look like a creepy secret admirer, and Hitoka wouldn’t want to lead them on like that. The explanation should she get caught would be far, far too much. 

“But how would I get it to them, even if I could make that?” She muses, bemused.  
“Perhaps in their water bottles?” Shimizu suggests, apparently thinking about it. “I doubt something like your perfume would work, although if you told them it’d help them win, they’d likely fall for anything.” 

Hitoka hums, and then frowns. She never told Shimizu about the perfume, and she’d never thought it was obvious in any case – now she thinks about it, she’d misplaced that bottle a few months back, before she ever started as trainee manager… 

“How did…?” She starts, but the door clicks open at that point. A tall women with long dark hair matching Shimizu’s walks in, not smiling but not exactly frowning either. 

“Kiyoko, I asked you not to use magic without supervision.” She remarks, as though it’s been said a hundred times before. She then notices Hitoka. “And you are…?” 

Hitoka jumps up, nerves growing by the second.  
“Yachi Hitoka, Shimizu-san! P-pleased to make your acquaintance!” She bows deeply, which earns her an appreciative hum.  
“Nice to meet you.” Shimizu-san remarks.  
“She’s here to learn some magic, mother.” 

“She’s magical!” A young boy shouts. Hitoka straightens up to see a boy of about ten staring at her with glee. “I’m gonna teach her the explodey spells!” He shouts, and Hitoka laughs nervously. 

“You won’t be doing that, Keiji. I can teach her proper magic, though.”

* * *

Hitoka makes so many notes her hand hurts. Her head is spinning in many ways when she leaves, but it feels full of knowledge and she likes it. She wants to practice, and somehow she’d impressed Shimizu-san enough to be invited back again, and she can’t wait. Shimizu offers to walk her home, and seems insistent no matter how much Hitoka protests; they compromise on halfway. 

Hitoka thinks it’s going to be that simple, but Shimizu tugs her sleeve when they pass a bench. The mountains rise up in front of them, and there’s a small park in front of it. The sun is just setting, a warm glow in the growing shadows, and Hitoka wants to hold onto time. She knows no magic could do that, but she wants to, anyway. 

“You were asking something before my mother came in.” Shimizu asks, once they’ve sat on the bench. Hitoka just sat down without thinking about it, but it feels like Shimizu has sat a little closer than normal customs would dictate; Hitoka wonders if it actually means anything at all. 

It takes a while, sifting through the myriad of new magic to practice and the thoughts of Shimizu so close, but the oddity of Shimizu knowing about her enchanted perfume resurfaces.  
“I wondered how you knew I had magic perfume, I lost that ages ago…” she murmurs, a little embarrassed to even ask, but there’s a need to know. It implies things that her heart might be happy at, she thinks, and she just needs to know. 

Glancing sideways at Shimizu, she thinks, even in the low light, that there’s a colour to her cheeks. 

“I can see magic, as you know.” Shimizu starts slowly. “It wasn’t incredibly obvious, but it was enough. Once I’d noticed it, I noticed you, although I had no reason to speak to you. I couldn’t find one until I decided to search for another manager. I… wasn’t expecting you to agree to it. But I’m glad you did. Very glad.” Shimizu looks at her, then, a glance with so much meaning Hitoka doesn’t dare try to interpret. 

“I’m-” She croaks, her throat dry. Clearing it, she starts again. “I’m glad you did. I’m happy you asked me!” Wringing her hands in her lap, she chuckles nervously under her breath. “I’m not really much good as a manager, but I’ll try my best, under your instruction, Shimizu-senpai!” She smiles at Shimizu. Her heart feels like it’s in her throat – the whole thing, being alone in a quiet part of town, in the space in between day and night, feels unreal and intimate somehow. Hitoka thinks maybe she’s dreamt this whole thing, and by tomorrow this will all be a faded memory that never was. 

She so desperately wants to cling to it. She never has her own space with Shimizu, as unworthy as she is of it, and so now, she never wants to leave. She wants to etch the moment into time and hold it. Make it a solid thing she can keep with her. It feels like she won’t ever have this again. 

Shimizu just keeps looking at her, though. Even when Hitoka didn’t notice, apparently, and all through her time learning to be a manager from her, and even now, Shimizu has been looking at her. Even when Hitoka felt plain and less than average next to her, Shimizu was looking at her like she was worth something. 

Will Shimizu keep looking at her? 

Even if she drowned in calming potion, she doesn’t think it would slow her heart down any. She wants to ask, the words are on her tongue, and she has to stop them somehow, by replacing them. 

She panics, between her loose tongue and Shimizu’s proximity. It’s her brain short-circuiting, filled with information and tired of holding secrets. 

“I’d best go! Mum will be wondering where I am!” Which is, at least, likely the truth. She stands swiftly, her hands are shaking because she was _this_ close, and she just can’t. She can’t endanger this, it’s happened before, and it’s gone so wrong. Girls, lovely as they are, seem close until she tells them she loves them _that way_ , and then they retreat rapidly, and she cannot have Shimizu retreat. She can’t lose this. She grabs her bag and swings it over her shoulder and backs off a few steps. “I’ll try and make a pot of lip balm for you!” 

And then she runs. Hitoka can be impulsive, but she dreads the moment she’s impulsive with Shimizu.

* * *

Her mum is out when she gets back, thankfully, and so doesn’t see her slide down the door with her face in her hands, bright red from running back and the whole situation. She eats the dinner on the table and grabs a pot of lip balm she’d gotten as a present – it’s rose flavoured, which is not her kind of scent, but seems to fit Shimizu quite well. 

Sighing, she sits down at her desk, notebook open, spellbooks on the bed, and lip balm in front of her. She shouldn’t do this now, really. Not when Shimizu-san had said, not two hours ago, that magic shouldn’t really be done in the grip of strong emotion. It taints it. But Hitoka doesn’t want Shimizu to think she escaped because of disgust or anything, and she wants to give her this. Wants to show that she can, wants to show that she’s still worth looking at. 

So she takes the paintbrush from her bag, straightens the bristles out habitually, most of them at angles and glued together with paint not fully washed off. She picks up her memories of her dad teaching her, minimally, and her mum watching, smiling for once. She picks up her feelings for Shimizu, the love she feels with every smile, every flick of her raven black hair, every quiet laugh, hidden passion in her eyes, and Hitoka’s want for Shimizu to keep seeing her, and says the incantation, tapping the pot three times. 

Yawning, she practices for a while, until she’s too sleepy to do so. She puts the lip balm in her bag to give to Shimizu tomorrow, and goes to bed.

* * *

She makes extra sure to smile at Shimizu, seeing the hint of doubt in her gaze, and pushes the pot at her at the end of practice, scuttling off before anything more can be said, her face red. She worries about it all night; so much so that her mum snaps at her for fidgeting. She can’t help it, wondering if the spell even caught right, wondering if in her tired state it worked at all, or had an opposite effect. She can’t help but feel something went wrong, although she cannot put her finger on what. She doesn’t think she was too emotional – she’d merely focussed on the reason for the magic as instructed, rather than the emotions. 

Hadn’t she? 

She barely sleeps that night, tossing and turning, wondering what kind of effect the lip balm will even have, if Shimizu will even use it. Hopefully nothing bad, but now she’s not sure and she’s doubting herself. Shimizu could have waited a day, a smile would have done, she didn’t have to give her the lip balm immediately, could have made sure it actually worked as it was meant to, but no, her impatience and anxiety made her unable to wait. 

Doubling up on her own anti-anxiety lip balm and calming foundation, she still worries her lip all the way to school. She wraps the strap of her backpack around her finger, and undoes it, a thousand times. She can’t quite focus in class, dismantling her pen and remaking it over and over, as quietly as she can. The teacher sends her puzzled glances throughout, but Hitoka slips away at lunch before he can mention anything and-

Immediately gets caught by Shimizu. 

Her eyes don’t seem clouded, a sign of magical influence, and she is smiling. If anything, a little too much. The hand that catches hers is firm, and leads her to an empty classroom, slides the door shut, and turns back to her. Shimizu takes both of her hands. 

“Hitoka-chan-”  
“I’m sorry!” Hitoka cries, bowing her head. “I think I did the potion on the lip balm wrong, can you give it back and I’ll re-do it right this time, I’m sorry I knew I shouldn’t have been trusted with this-”  
“Hitoka-chan?”  
“But I just didn’t want you thinking I didn’t like you or whatever and I had to make it, but I should have waited and I’m so so sorry!”  
“Hitoka-chan.” Shimizu puts a finger to her lips, and immediately Hitoka shuts up and turns red. Shimizu smiles. “I’m glad you gave me the lip balm as it was.” 

“But, why? It can’t have done anything good…” She starts wringing her hands together, but Shimizu laughs quietly.  
“Oh, it did something amazing. It gave me courage.” Shimizu states, and Hitoka just tries to think about what could have done that, because surely no spell that she’s ever cast has been that strong- “To ask you if you would be my girlfriend.” 

Hitoka freezes, her mouth falling open. She definitely didn’t wake up this morning. Or maybe she fell asleep in class and didn’t realise. This can’t be real. This _cannot_ be real, it’s way too good to be true. But she nods, anyway, automatically. She can’t refuse that offer, even if it’s a dream. It’ll annoy her waking self if she does nothing and this slips away, and since it’s a dream, there are no repercussions, either. 

The smile Shimizu gives her is blinding. She squeezes her hands, her eyes glimmering in excitement.  
“Mother asked if you could come every week, she’d like to tutor you more. Kenji wants to see you again, too. And there’s a new café near my house I’d like to try out, if you’d like to join me? Tomorrow perhaps?” 

Again, Hitoka just nods. Shimizu tilts her head just slightly.  
“Is… something wrong?” 

Hitoka chews on her lip for a moment, trying to decide. If this is a dream, then nothing will come of telling the truth, and she might as well tell it here without real repercussions that out in reality, with all those damned consequences. 

“I just- it doesn’t seem real. Isn’t that lip balm basically a… a- a _love potion_?” She whispers, panicking. 

“I didn’t actually use it,” Shimizu starts. Hitoka frowns, puzzled. “I could see. And that gave me courage to do what I’ve wanted to do for a while.” 

Hitoka just blinks. Not real. But this is a cruel dream if it is one, and now- now she feels like she needs to know for herself. She mentally traces her path through the day, trying to find a gap indicating a dream state, but finds none. She looks about the room, expecting not to be able to, or it not to have details, but it lacks nothing in clarity. Finally, she resorts to the basic method. 

“Shimizu-senpai? Could I have my hands back for a moment?”  
Shimizu releases her, befuddled, and Hitoka steps back just enough – and slaps both of them to her face. The sting of it is real, the heat flooding her cheeks is impossible for a dream to produce. Which produces the terrifying possibility that- that this is actually real. 

“You want to go out with _me_?!” Hitoka shrieks in disbelief.  
“Why wouldn’t I?” Shimizu questions mildly.  
“Because I’m just, just me?! And you’re you, amazing and beautiful and so, so not me, it just?!” 

And Shimizu just. Laughs. Not so hard as to think the whole thing is a joke, but enough to stun her into silence.  
“I like you because you’re you. I wish you wouldn’t be so self-deprecating, but we’ll work on that. Together, if you like. Along with the magic, which you are excellent at, also.” She takes both of Hitoka’s hands again, feeling like the warmest thing Hitoka has ever held. “So, would you join me on a date tomorrow afternoon, Hitoka-chan?” 

“Of- of course, Shimizu-senpai!” Like she’d ever say no to that offer anyway, even if it wasn’t a date. 

“You can answer me then, about whether you want to be girlfriends or not, Hitoka-chan.” Shimizu says, but something about her smile is closed off, just a little. Sad, even. Hitoka takes a deep breath, and squeezes her hands as tight as she can. 

“It’s not going to be a no, Shimizu-senpai. Even though I don’t get it, I don’t understand why you’d pick me, I’m honoured for the opportunity, and I’d love you. To! I meant to! Argh!” 

Shimizu pulls her into a hug, only releasing her hands to wrap them around Hitoka’s embarrassed, red, shaking body.  
“I look forward to our adventures together.” She whispers, right in Hitoka’s ear.  
“A-as do I, Shimizu-senpai.” There’s a faint laugh, a mere breath of air.  
“You can call me Kiyoko if you like, Hitoka-chan.” 

“Give me time, please! I’ll work on it!” There’s another giggle, and tightening of the hug and the feeling of Shimizu’s chin resting on her shoulder. Hitoka, minus the embarrassment, could probably fly right now, even without magic. 

It’s a good feeling. And she has a notion that, as long as she and Shimizu can hold onto each other, it’ll last. 

Which is, of course, the best thing.

**Author's Note:**

> For the Haikyuu Secret Santa event on tumblr! I really enjoyed witing this, and although it wasn't quite as magical as I would have liked, I think I got enough of it in there? Hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Can be found on tumblr here: https://silverliningslurk.tumblr.com/post/181398381261/hold-on


End file.
